The Quran on Jesus’ Death
One of the
biggest barriers to agreement between Muslims and Christians is that both
generally believe that one verse in the Quran denies the death of Jesus. The death of Jesus is such a central theme to
the New Testament that no Christian will accept the Quran if he/she believes
that it denies the death of Jesus.
However, I
believe the Bible and Quran can be reconciled on this. Now, this interpretation is significantly
different from any of the dominant theories promoted by Islamic scholars. But, the issue I am concerned with here is,
can a Christian accept that the Quran speaks the truth about Jesus?
This was one of
the biggest problems I had when I first started studying the Quran. Even when I accepted that God had led
Muhammad, I still could not fully accept the Quran, as it is today, because I
saw it as contradicting the Bible on Jesus’ death. Jesus’ death is not something that is only
briefly mentioned in the four accounts of Jesus’ life. It is a major theme in all four. And it is a theme in many of the other New
Testament books. As such, even the
relatively few Christians who reject the Trinity will find it impossible to
casually dismiss the death of Jesus.
This is a way
that I found to reconcile the Bible and Quran regarding Jesus’ death. It is different from what most Muslims
believe, but it allowed me to accept the Quran as being given by God. I think it is useful because it will allow
Christians to take an honest look at the rest of the Quran.
And, to any
Muslims reading this, it is certainly possible to interpret the Quran and Bible
as contradicting each other on this matter.
It is your right to do so, if you choose. But, to ask a Christian to believe that such
a major theme as the death and resurrection of Jesus was added to the New Testament
would be like a Muslim believing that Jesus is really God and the Quran was
corrupted. An open minded Christian will
be willing to look at new interpretations of the text. And, a Christian who is familiar with textual
criticism may be willing to concede that small errors have crept into the
text. But, the death and resurrection of
Jesus is such a major theme in so many books of the New Testament, that no
Christian could casually assume that it is wrong. Why not try to look for interpretations that
don’t require you to assume major corruption in either the Bible or Quran?
Let’s start by
looking at what the Quran means when it says someone didn’t kill someone else.
Quran 8:17
فَلَمْ تَقْتُلُوهُمْ
وَلَكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَتَلَهُمْ ۚ وَمَا رَمَيْتَ إِذْ رَمَيْتَ وَلَكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ
رَمَىٰ ۚ وَلِيُبْلِىَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ مِنْهُ بَلَآءً حَسَنًا ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ
سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌۭ
“Ye (Muslims)
slew them not, but Allah slew them. And thou (Muhammad) threwest not when thou
didst throw, but Allah threw, that He might test the believers by a fair test
from Him. Lo! Allah is Hearer, Knower.”
This was given
in the aftermath of the battle of Badr, when the Muslims successfully fought
off a much larger army from Mecca. No
Muslim in his right mind would take this verse to mean that the Muslims did not
go to Badr, hit the Meccans with their swords, and the Meccans died. This is clarified when it says that God
killed them.
What does the
Quran say about Jesus? I believe it also
says God caused Jesus to die, meaning the Jews did not kill him.
Quran 3 (Al-Imran):
54, 55
وَمَكَرُوا۟
وَمَكَرَ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَٱللَّهُ خَيْرُ ٱلْمَكِرِينَ
إِذْ
قَالَ ٱللَّهُ يَعِيسَىٰٓ إِنِّى مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَىَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ
ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ وَجَاعِلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟
إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَمَةِ ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَىَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ
فِيمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ
“And the
unbelievers schemed [against Jesus]; but God brought their scheming to nought:
for God is above all schemers. Lo! God said: "O Jesus! Verily, I shall
cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me….” (Muhammad Asad interpretation)
Most of the
translations write, “I will take thee” instead of “I will cause thee to
die”. However, “I will cause thee to
die” is the most literal translation.
Al-Mawrid: A
Modern Arabic-English Dictionary,
7th edition, defines مُتَوَفًّى (mutawaffan) as, “dead, deceased, defunct, departed, late”.
Reading it this
way would seem to indicate that God determined Jesus’ death, just as He had
with the Meccans at Badr.
The Quran also
quotes Jesus, when he was a child, as stating this about his future.
Quran 19 (Maryam):
33, 34
كِلْتَا
ٱلْجَنَّتَيْنِ ءَاتَتْ أُكُلَهَا وَلَمْ تَظْلِم مِّنْهُ شَيْـًۭٔا ۚ
وَفَجَّرْنَا خِلَلَهُمَا نَهَرًۭا
"So peace is
on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be
raised up to life (again)"!
وَكَانَ لَهُۥ ثَمَرٌۭ
فَقَالَ لِصَحِبِهِۦ وَهُوَ يُحَاوِرُهُۥٓ أَنَا۠ أَكْثَرُ مِنكَ مَالًۭا
وَأَعَزُّ نَفَرًۭا
Such (was) Jesus
the son of Mary: (it is) a statement of truth, about which they (vainly)
dispute.
Many people
think the Bible says the Jews killed Jesus.
What does the Bible actually say?
John 10:17-18
διὰ τοῦτό ὁ πατὴρ με ἀγαπᾷ, ὅτι ἐγὼ τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν μου, ἵνα πάλιν λάβω αὐτήν.
οὐδεὶς αἴρει αὐτὴν ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ, ἀλλ᾿ ἐγὼ
τίθημι αὐτὴν ἀπ᾿ ἐμαυτοῦ·
ἐξουσίαν ἔχω θεῖναι αὐτήν, καὶ ἐξουσίαν ἔχω πάλιν λαβεῖν αὐτήν· ταύτην τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔλαβον παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου.
"Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father."
Here, Jesus
makes an explicit statement that no man would kill him. If no man would kill him, then the Jews didn’t
kill him.
Luke 23:46
καὶ φωνήσας φωνῇ μεγάλῃ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς εἶπε· πάτερ, εἰς χεῖράς σου παρατίθεμαι τὸ πνεῦμά
μου· καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν ἐξέπνευσεν.
"And when
Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost."
This points out
something that most people miss. God
took Jesus’s life before he succumbed to the effects of crucifixion, which
normally took days. Jesus did not die
from crucifixion, even though it appeared that way. If Jesus did not die from crucifixion, then
the Jews didn’t really crucify him.
Acts 2:22-24, 32,
33
Ανδρες ᾿Ισραηλῖται, ἀκούσατε τοὺς λόγους τούτους· ᾿Ιησοῦν τὸν Ναζωραῖον, ἄνδρα ἀπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀποδεδειγμένον εἰς ὑμᾶς δυνάμεσι
καὶ τέρασι καὶ σημείοις οἷς ἐποίησε δι᾿ αὐτοῦ
ὁ Θεὸς ἐν μέσῳ ὑμῶν, καθὼς καὶ αὐτοὶ οἴδατε,
22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words;
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and
signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
τοῦτον τῇ ὡρισμένῃ βουλῇ καὶ προγνώσει τοῦ Θεοῦ ἔκδοτον λαβόντες, διὰ χειρὸς ἀνόμων προσπήξαντες ἀνείλατε·
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain:
ὃν ὁ Θεὸς ἀνέστησε λύσας τὰς ὠδῖνας
τοῦ θανάτου, καθότι οὐκ ἦν δυνατὸν κρατεῖσθαι αὐτὸν ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ.
24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed
the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
…….
τοῦτον τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν ἀνέστησεν ὁ Θεός, οὗ πάντες ἡμεῖς ἐσμεν μάρτυρες.
32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof
we all are witnesses.
τῇ δεξιᾷ οὖν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑψωθεὶς,
τήν τε ἐπαγγελίαν τοῦ ῾Αγίου Πνεύματος λαβὼν
παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς, ἐξέχεε τοῦτο ὃ νῦν ὑμεῖς βλέπετε
καὶ ἀκούετε.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he
hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Here, Peter says
that the Jewish leaders were only able to carry out what God determined and
knew ahead of time. It seemed to the
Jews that they had crucified and killed Jesus, but it was God who determined
what would happen. They did not
successfully kill Jesus because God raised him up to heaven.
Now, let’s look
at the famous statement in context.
Quran 4:154-159
وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَهُمُ
ٱلطُّورَ بِمِيثَقِهِمْ وَقُلْنَا لَهُمُ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْبَابَ سُجَّدًۭا وَقُلْنَا
لَهُمْ لَا تَعْدُوا۟ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ وَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُم مِّيثَقًا غَلِيظًۭا
154 And for their
covenant we raised over them (the towering height) of Mount (Sinai); and we
said: "Enter the gate with humility"; and we commanded them:
"Transgress not in the matter of the sabbath." And we took from them
a solemn covenant.
فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِم
مِّيثَقَهُمْ وَكُفْرِهِم بِـَٔايَتِ ٱللَّهِ وَقَتْلِهِمُ ٱلْأَنۢبِيَآءَ
بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّۢ وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌۢ ۚ بَلْ طَبَعَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهَا
بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا
155 (They have
incurred divine displeasure): In that they broke their covenant; that they
rejected the signs of Allah; that they slew the Messengers in defiance of
right; that they said, "Our hearts are the wrappings (which preserve
Allah's Word; We need no more)";- Nay, Allah hath set the seal on their
hearts for their blasphemy, and little is it they believe;-
156 That they
rejected Faith; that they uttered against Mary a grave false charge;
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا
قَتَلْنَا ٱلْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا
صَلَبُوهُ وَلَكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ لَفِى
شَكٍّۢ مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا
قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًۢا
157 That they
said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of
Allah";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to
appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no
(certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed
him not:-
158 Nay, Allah
raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-
وَإِن
مِّنْ أَهْلِ ٱلْكِتَبِ إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِۦ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِۦ ۖ وَيَوْمَ
ٱلْقِيَمَةِ يَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًۭا
159 And there is
none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on
the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them;-
Verse 157 is
usually used to criticize Christians for believing in Jesus’ death. But the context is a criticism of the Jews
for boasting that they had killed and crucified Jesus, whereby the Jews today
imply that he wasn’t the true Messiah.
The context is not a criticism of the Christians and their beliefs at
all, even though it is used this way.
Instead, it a criticism of a group of Jews for boasting that they had
killed Jesus, just like how the Muslims would naturally have wanted to boast
about their great victory at Badr.
